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LOOKING BACK 1905: Free home mail delivery for Waynesboro

By JAMES RADA JR.For Public Opinion

Updated:
04/28/2013 10:26:08 PM EDT

Better late than never, as they say.

The United States Post Office started experimenting with Rural Free Delivery in 1891. As the program expanded, Pennsylvania got its first two RFD routes near the end of November 1896. Nearby Shippensburg was the first RFD route in this area beginning in 1899. By 1905, the state had nearly 700 RFD routes, including ones in Carlisle, Chambersburg, Gettysburg, Mercersburg and Orrtanna.

Waynesboro was still using the old postal system where residents had to come to the post office to get their mail. That changed on Feb. 1, 1905, at 9 a.m. when A. Stover Fitz, Norman S. Fair and Howard M. Weaver left the Bank of Waynesboro building where the post office was located and headed out on Waynesboro's first RFD routes.

Fair and Weaver drove mail wagons while Fitz delivered the mail in a buggy.

They had been preparing for this moment for weeks. The men had taken dry runs along their routes, which would take around seven hours to complete. They had studied the regulations regarding RFD and even visited the mail sorting operation in Chambersburg, which had gotten RFD near the end of 1901.

Some of the new regulations that the mail carriers had to get used to were, according to Carl V. Besore and Robert L. Ringer in "A Reflection of the History of Waynesboro, Pennsylvania and Vicinity":

"The mail carriers had to keep a count of all mail picked up on the route each day.

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"Any mail the carrier collected that could be delivered before returning to the post office first had to have the carrier cancel the postage with an indelible pencil.

"The carrier had to keep postage stamps, cards, stamped envelopes and money order blanks with him. If patrons entrusted him, the carrier could act as their agent, enclosing their money in the stamped addressed envelope given him by the patron," Besore and Ringer wrote.

"If carriers met one of the people on their route while they were driving, they could deliver their mail to them if requested but only if it cost them no time on their route.

"Carriers had to deliver registered mail and pension to the addressee's home as long as their mailbox was less than a mile off the route. If the house was further away, a note would be left in the mailbox explaining who could get the mail and where it could be obtained.

"Special delivery letters would be delivered to the addressee's house if it was within a mile of the mailbox. If the house was further away, the letter would be left in the mailbox as ordinary mail."

The first day of rural free delivery in Waynesboro went well.

"The roads were fairly good, but Mr. Fitz decided to use a sleigh the next day. All reported many patrons greeted them at their letter boxes," Besore and Ringer wrote.

The one problem that the mail carriers ran into the first day was that they could only place mail in approved boxes, but many residents along the mail routes hadn't gotten their mailboxes yet. The postmaster gave the carriers permission to deliver mail to temporary mailboxes as long as the resident had ordered an approved mailbox.

This led to a very interesting temporary mailbox.

"Carrier Fitz, upon reaching the Samuel H. Brown residence at Roadside, found an unusual mail box. An old bucket had been shined up and a U.S. flag attached to it. Brown was one who had not year received his box. He knew home-made boxes were not permissible, but he found nothing in the regulations prohibiting the use of a bucket," Besore and Ringer wrote.

Though the first day went smoothly, the second day of rural free delivery had some hiccups. The mail carriers left 15 minutes later, probably due to heavier mail volume.

Later in the day, Fair stopped at the H.B. Motz Store in Tomstown to write a money order application. Some nearby sledders accidentally frightened his horse while Fair was still inside. The horse took off.

"Several men caught the animal and quieted him down, but not until he had kicked the shafts off the stick wagon. Repairs could not be made in time for Mr. Fair to finish delivery on the last one-fourth of his route, so he walked the two and one-half miles back to Waynesboro leading his horse; mail delivered the next day," Besore and Ringer wrote.

It is not noted whether anyone suggested that the Postal Service creed be changed to, "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds, but a frightened horse can."

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Looking Back is published every other Monday. James Rada Jr. is an award-winning writer living in Gettysburg. He is the author of four historical novels and has written historical articles for a number of regional and national magazines. For more information, visit his website at http://www.aimpublishinggroup.com.

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